Fokker F.VII
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The Fokker F.VII was a small airliner originally produced by Anthony Fokker's Atlantic Aircraft Company, and later by other companies under licence. The original 1924 design was a single-engined high-winged monoplane, but from September 1925 the aircraft was more commonly produced in its F.VIIa/3m and F.VIIb/3m forms with three engines. In this configuration it was popularly known as the Fokker Trimotor.
The 10-passenger F.VII was the aircraft of choice for many early airlines. Along with the similar Ford Trimotor, it dominated the American market until the introduction of the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2 in the early 1930s.
Pioneers and Explorers
The F.VII was used by many explorers and aviation pioneers, including:
- Richard E. Byrd claimed to have flown over the North Pole in the Fokker F.VIIa/3m Josephine Ford on May 9 1926, a few days before Roald Amundsen accomplished the same feat in the airship Norge.
- Two Lieutenants of the US Army Air Corps, Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger, made the first flight from the continental United States to Hawaii in the Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise in June 1927. That same month, Richard E. Byrd, Bernt Balchen and two others flew the C-2 America across the Atlantic, crash-landing off the coast of France. It was the third successful non-stop transatlantic flight.
- Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's F.VIIb/3m Southern Cross was the first aircraft to cross the Pacific from the United States to Australia in June 1928, and the first to cross the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in September of that year.
- Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic on June 17 1928, as a passenger aboard the Fokker F.VIIb/3m Friendship.
Military Operations
A transport version produced for the US Army was known as the Atlantic C-2 or Fokker C-2. This is not to be confused with the much later Grumman C-2 Greyhound.
Amongst others, the F.VII was operated by the militaries of Czechoslovakia, Finland (one F.VIIa), Netherlands, Netherlands East Indies, Poland, Spain, United States and Yugoslavia.
References
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